Streamlining Wildlife Regulation

A recent burst of revisions in the bedrock regulations governing projects that may adversely affect wildlife represents a generational shift in policy. Streamlining federal decision -making drove much of this reform. Streamlining offers a path to address climate change without abandoning a longstanding commitment to wildlife conservation. The conservation community recognizes the need to build new infrastructure to reduce the rate of climate change through air emissions. The most urgent priority is decarbonizing the electrical ~rid through renewable energy generation and a better transmission network. Adaptation to the "new abnormal" of climate-driven environmental disruption demands federal approvals for a host of other habitat-disturbing programs, from coastal redesign to wildfire management. Regulatory requirements that slow or stop such projects are no longer as desirable for wildlife as in the past. Wildlife law should speed approvals and better coordinate disparate programs without sacrificing statutory objectives, such as recovery of species on the brink of extinction. Streamlining attempts to redirect regulatory analysis to early stages of decision -making, broader landscape scales, and impacts that are likely to generate greater risk to wildlife. Rulemakings employ two principal tools to achieve this shift. First, they limit coverage by replacing effects-based liability triggers (such as take prohibitions) with activity-based compliance (such as locating and operating projects in a particular manner). Second, they centralize key decisions through programmatic analysis and planning, which allows for more rapid project-specific decisions. These reforms provide a roadmap for revival and extension when the political winds shift back toward addressing climate change.